3rd President of the Polish National Alliance

The only person to ever hold the two highest offices in the history of the Alliance, Przybyszewski came to America in 1873 and settled in the heavily Polish town of Bay City, Michigan.

 

A fiery leader who was active in both local politics and Polish patriotic affairs, Przybyszewski organized the St. Casimir Society, Group 12 of the PNA, in 1880 and himself was the 312th member of the Alliance. Elected vice censor at the La Crosse convention in 1885, the next year he was elected president at the PNA convention held in Bay City. In fact, the entire board elected at this convention was from Bay City and Przybyszewski succeeded in moving the national headquarters of the organization out of Chicago for the one and only time in history.

 

At the 1887 convention, however, the Chicago faction headed by members of the Gmina Polska group won back control and brought the administration "home" to the Windy City. In 1891, Przybyszewski defeated Frank Gryglaszewski for the office of censor but was unable to accomplish much because of persistent conflicts with the central administration and the editor of Zgoda.

 

In 1893, he declined to seek reelection and Theodore Helinski was elected by unanimous vote to succeed him, thereby ending the contest between Chicago and Bay City. Przybyszewski remained active in the Alliance for many years and in 1912, Lodge 192 in Philadelphia honored Przybyszewski by naming itself after the early PNA leader.

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